New teams, trump match, short affairs in PBL schedule as league gets SC clearance
THE MUCH-AWAITED second season of the Premier Badminton League (PBL) will definitely begin on 2nd January 2016 and run till 17th January as the Supreme Court today gave it permission to go ahead.
With just under three weeks remaining, the fate of the league was in doubt as the Meghalaya High Court had recently stayed the tournament. The Badminton Association of India (BAI) had then approached the Supreme Court, which has now given a clearance by staying the HC order.
The teams have been formed and the fixture list is out; the first match, between Mumbai Rockets and Awadhe Warriors, will be in Mumbai and the final match will be held in the national capital Delhi.
The official Twitter account of PBL posted the full fixture list of the league,
Ready to begin 2016 with a bang? #PremierBadmintonLeague pic.twitter.com/v0hXFKUwDD
— PBL India (@PBLIndiaLive) December 14, 2015
It will also be a shortened affair as the points needed to win a set have been reduced from 21 to 15 in order to make the matches more competitive and exciting. There is also a concept of "trump match" being introduced, that is each team will get to strategically select one of the five matches that they play in a tie where a victory gives the team a bonus point and a loss gives it a negative point. A team will have to use different players in these matches that they will get to pick twice in the league stage and once in the knock out stage.
Teams have been given new names and a new franchise has entered the league, Chennai Smashers. Badminton lovers mark the dates and get ready to bring in 2016 with your favourite shuttlers in action.
